A suspenseful and moving novel which has at its centre one of Richards' most memorable and haunting characters. It is the fall of 1989 in a small Miramichi mill town. Jerry Bines is acquitted of murder and returns home to his estranged wife and young son, with hopes for a new beginning. But when he learns that Gary Percy Rils has escaped from prison, he has good reason to fear for his own safety and that of others. In his attempts to protect his family from Rils by taking him under his wing, Bines sets in motion a series of events that ultimately leads to tragedy. The story of what happens unfolds piece by piece, as related by police reports, interviews, and by a man to a boy. Vivid in its sense of place, this penetrating chronicle of lives is both dark and redemptive, devastating and comic. This novel was made into a Gemini Award-winning film of the same name.